Early Autumn
by mistcoveredmountains
Summary: LEJP eventual romance. Autumn's come early, and the weather seems to be just as frosty as Lily when she begins her 7th year at Hogwarts as the new Head Girl. Many twists ahead, so read! And review if you so wish to or feel inspired to or are just nice.
1. Autumn Sure Is Early This Year

Early Autumn

Autumn Sure Is Early This Year

Lily Evans, a red haired seventh year student attending Hogwarts, a mysterious institution for budding witches and wizards, sadly looked up and down Platform 9 ¾, realising it would be the last time she would be standing there. Her breath rose in a mist as she exhaled dismally, shivering slightly as the cold September wind nipped her face. Autumn seemed to be stepping in early this year, and Lily sincerely hoped this wasn't an omen for more sinister things.

The platform was nearly entirely deserted; the only people standing there that morning was Lily and six or seven nervous looking first years. Lily never arrived this early to the platform on September 1st, but this year she felt she had reason to. She wanted to say goodbye properly, without everyone bustling around her, laughing and joking. Sighing for the second time, Lily took her new shiny Head Girl badge out of her pocket, and polished it with her coat sleeve before pinning in onto her robes.

Soon enough, the platform slowly filled with Hogwarts students, young witches and wizards darting up and down the grey stone slabs, eager and excited to start a fresh year at their extraordinary school. Lily smiled to herself as she recalled being as bouncy and youthful as they were once, she felt as if she had grown years since the summer, but wasn't quite sure why.

"Why, if it isn't Lillian Evans!" Exclaimed a cheery voice in fake surprise from behind Lily, who immediately spun round, greeting her friend with a warm smile.

"Hi Lydia. How was your summer?" Lily asked, relieved to see her best friend after so long. Lydia Woodhouse was quite a short girl, but what she didn't have in height, she made up for with her vibrant personality. She had long dark hair, and big blue eyes, which were never devoid of emotion. Although she and Lydia were very close, they never hugged, painted each other's nails or did each other's hair, the way that most girls their age do. They had a less conventional relationship, but wouldn't ever want anything else.

"It was pretty good, ta. Skiing was...amazing! I don't really go a bunch on Swiss people, but they have some damn good slopes down there!" Lydia gushed, her cheeks flushed with enthusiasm, twirling her wand carelessly through her fingers. "You reached your ultimate-goal, I see." She stated, indicating towards Lily's badge.

Lily looked down to see her shiny new badge glinting on her chest. "Oh…yeah. Head Girl at last." She replied, unenthusiastically, hiding a slight smile. Lily always hated the fact that she was naturally very bright and well behaved. She often hid her talent, fearing that if she flaunted it, or became too arrogant or confident, it would jinx her. Despite her natural excellence, she was constantly in the background, but being Head Girl made her feel…special. Almost complete.

"Don't be too sad or anything, Lils, it could be worse." Lydia teased, her blue eyes glinting, a small smirk on her lips. She knew her friend inside out, and was the only one who could constantly tease her without rousing her terrifying temper.

At that moment, the magnificent Hogwarts Express train pulled up into the platform, and Lily and Lydia, amongst others, eagerly boarded the train, happy to get out of the unnatural wintry weather. Slowly, the girls made their way down the train, looking for an empty compartment to sit in. It was easy for them because younger students scampered at the sight of Lily's badge gleaming with authority.

"Here's a free one!" Lydia called to her friend, and they both sat themselves in a deserted compartment, staring out at the frost-bitten platform.

Just as the two girls were settling down together and Lydia was regaling Lily with amusing anecdotes from her holiday to Switzerland, imitating their accent perfectly, there was a commotion outside their compartment. Small students were shrieking and scampering away from something – or someone.

"Looks like that's your cue, Head Girl. Knock the perpetrator dead with your steely glare." Lydia joked, as Lily rose to see what was going on.

Lily laughed "I always do. It's part of my charm."

As Lily stepped out into the aisle, a small mousy-haired first year ran right into her, falling back onto his bottom. She reached down to help the small boy up as he apologised profusely for running into her.

"That's alright. What are you running from anyway?" Lily asked the trembling first year. And then she noticed some sort of green growth coming out of his ears. "Euw, what's that!"

"The big boys, down there. They're sending sparks and jinxing-"

"Does one have long dark hair and the other short messy hair?"

"Yeah, I think so."

_Black and Potter._ She thought to herself, not needing to hear anything else from the boy. She knew Black and Potter of old, and if anyone was causing trouble with rogue jinxes it was them, or their band of followers who so appropriately called themselves 'the Marauders'.

Briskly, she strode down towards the source of all the noise, and sure enough, two seventh year boys in a compartment near the end were jinxing random bystanders as they passed. Both she knew only two well. Both she disliked, only too much.

"Hello boys." She said calmly as she appeared in front of their compartment. She smiled contentedly as she could see her reflection in the glass of their compartment doors. _I look appropriately stern,_ she thought. Two dark haired, roguish looking boys grinned down at her, and quickly lowered their wands, trying to look innocent.

"Hi there Evans!" Said one, cheerily. He had long (for a boy) black hair, and charming looking features. Although he had black eyes, they were not cold and emotionless; they were always glinting with mischief or excitement.

"Yeah…hi Evans, what a nice surprise..." Said the other pleasantly, muffling a gruff chuckle and disguising it with a cough, rather indiscreetly. "Head Girl, eh? Nice one, Evans." He winked charmingly at Lily, flashing what he must have thought was a winning smile, but it simply irritated Lily further. He had shorter black hair than his friend, but his hair which should have been more manageable because of its length, was decidedly messier. His hazel eyes shone with twisted delight when he saw his red-haired classmate glaring up at him, her badge shining brightly on her chest.

"I beg to differ. Nice was not the word I was looking for when I noticed that when every first year student passed your compartment, they ended up with fungus coming out of their ears!" Lily replied coolly, subtly glancing at her reflection again, smoothing down her slightly bushy red locks as she noticed one side was slightly kinked.

"Really? I can't say I noticed. Did you notice, James?" The long haired boy asked his friend.

"No, no, completely escaped my attention I'm afraid, Sirius." James said with a cheeky smirk, reaching up to his unruly locks and messing them up even more than before.

"Oh, really? That's interesting because one of these first year's description of his attackers seemed uncannily similar to your two. Please suggest to me anyone else who could fit your description and I'll happily give them detention instead." Lily said sarcastically, _gotcha_ she thought.

"That's a coincidence." Sirius replied, calmly, still smiling politely.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Evans." James stated.

Lily paused, trying to think of a witty retort, when Lydia came up next to her, holding the hand of a crying first year girl who seemed to have some sort of plant growing out of her ears.

"Was it these two nasty boys, Susan? Was it?" Lydia asked the little girl, pointing to James and Sirius. As Susan stuttered an affirmative reply, Lydia looked up at Lily discreetly, allowing her friend to silently thank her.

Lily smiled with genuine satisfaction as she turned back to the two guilty boys in front of her. "Detention. Friday at 8:00pm. I'll sort things out with Professor Slughorn, I'm sure he won't mind having his dungeons cleaned…Bye boys."

And with that she swept away from the two boys who both cursed at her retreating back.

"It's good to be back, isn't it Lyd?"

"Sure is."

The rest of the journey went uneventfully, the food-trolley-witch came and went and the girls filled their compartment with a variety of foods. They never worried about their weight, as both were decidedly skinny and very hungry indeed.

Rain had begun to thunder on the windows as they sped through the countryside towards Hogwarts, and some raindrops had escaped through a slight opening in the window.

Just as the castle was coming into view, another girl pulled open their glass door and plonked herself down beside Lydia seemingly out of breath.

"Hi girls! I took ages finding you, I was kinda late and I thought the barrier had sealed itself and was panicking but then I realised I had been running into the wrong barrier for half an hour and finally got onto Platform 9 and…hey Lily you're Head Girl! Congrats!" The sunny looking blonde burbled as she beamed at her two friends.

"Hi Audrey. Don't worry, we figured you were late, as usual." Lydia said, rolling her eyes.

"Guess what? I just gave my first detention!" Lily enthused.

"Oh? Who to?" Audrey asked, always eager to hear any gossip.

"Need you ask?"

"The Marauders?"

"Well, half of them. Potter and Black were jinxing first years with some sort of curse – all these poor kids were running around with fungus growing out of their ears…"

Audrey giggled, clearly finding the image of fungal-ears funny.

"It's not funny Audrey! Someone could have got hurt!" Lily scolded; irritated as she saw Lydia and Audrey roll their eyes at each other.

"Hey, Lily, do you know who the Head Boy is yet?" Audrey asked, with genuine curiosity.

"No, no idea. I suppose I'll find out when we get to Hogwarts – we're having an introductory meeting before the feast." Lily replied. She really hadn't given the Head Boy much thought – or who he could possibly be. She just hoped she would get along with whoever it was well enough to get her job done.

"Oh how cosy." Lydia said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Cosy?" Lily asked

"Oh, come on Lily, the Head Boy and Head Girl nearly always get together. It's Hogwarts tradition – like the Sorting Hat." Lydia replied, knowingly, nodding at Audrey who nodded back in the same irritatingly knowing fashion.

"Too true. How ironical would it be if the Head Boy turned out to be someone like Peter Pettigrew!" Audrey exclaimed, laughing loudly and snorting afterwards.

"Not me. My relationship with the Head Boy, whoever he may be, will be completely professional." Replied Lily, haughtily.

Audrey and Lydia didn't dare reply. Instead they just gave each other sneaky glances, before bursting into peals of laughter all over again.

Lily turned away from her friends, looking out at the rain whipping the window. _What a disgusting September _she thought _it really is an unnaturally early autumn._


	2. The Obvious Choice

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in any shape or form or shape. I do, however, own a Tinkerbell calendar, but it's nearly finished.

The Obvious Choice

Fifteen minutes. Fifteen. The Sorting must have already started, and here was Lily, still waiting for the Head Boy to deign to show up. She felt a feeling of dread well up inside her as she tapped her foot impatiently on the wooden leg of her chair. Any Head Boy who turned up this late for a meeting obviously didn't take the job as seriously as she did – and boy, did she take the job seriously.

"I'm sure our new Head Boy will be here in a matter of minutes, Miss Evans." Dumbledore, the new Head teacher, reassured kindly, his blue eyes twinkling, a sort of glint of amusement shining in them as he surveyed Lily's hyperactive foot.

"Quite." Lily concurred curtly, her foot never ceasing to tap the chair.

Finally, after a couple of awkward minutes of silence came a knock at the large oak door behind Lily.

"Come." Dumbledore said, still smiling vaguely at Lily.

Lily daren't look around to see the new Head Boy standing behind her. She almost shut her eyes tight as she heard him sit on the seat next to her out of sheer worry. Slowly, Lily took a big gulp of air, finally deciding she was being very melodramatic and turned to see a rather out of breath boy sitting beside her.

"Miss Evans, this is Remus Lupin, Mr. Lupin, this is Lillian Evans."

Remus smiled at Lily genuinely, surveying her slightly confused expression with tired grey eyes. Lily smiled back, but was not entirely sure whether to be overjoyed that Remus was Head Boy, or slightly irritated. Lily didn't know Remus all that well, but did know, however, that he was part of Potter and Black's elusive gang of Marauders.

"You're list of duties are right here," Dumbledore passed two sheets of parchment to Lily and Remus in turn "And I trust you will organise them as you see fit?"

"Gladly, Professor," Remus replied, his soft voice sounded relaxed and inviting.

"Yes, of course Professor."

_Remus isn't like the other Marauders _Lily thought to herself as she watched Remus concentrating on the list of duties out of the corner of her eye _he's more…mature. And gentlemanly. And studious. He just happens to be friends with Black and Potter. _Lily finally smiled sincerely; she decided she was relieved it was Remus, and not someone like Sirius Black - or even worse, James Potter.

"You're not very enthusiastic to be working with me, are you Lily?" Remus commented after they had left Dumbledore's office.

"No! No, nothing like that," Lily replied, a little taken aback at the question, "I just had misgivings at first because…well…"

"Because of the people I'm friends with? I understand." He didn't sound angry, just a little disappointed. "They aren't all that bad, you know."

Lily just made a sceptical tutting sound in reply.

"I'm not all that bad, am I?" He asked his grey eyes wide, a cheeky grin spread across his face.

Lily chuckled "No, Remus, you're…different. I'm glad we're working together this year."

"I still can't _believe_ your luck, Moony. I mean Evans! The Lily Evans! My Lily Evans!" James hissed to Remus during Dumbledore's speech. Seemingly, the fact his friend was working with the object of his desire was more important than anything Dumbledore had to say.

"Keep your knickers on, Prongs. She's nothing special." Said Sirius insensitively, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Besides, she's not _yours_. She doesn't even like you." Remus whispered back to James diplomatically.

"That's not the point, Moony. Not even close. Look, I'll pay you twenty Galleons-"

"Shhh!" Minerva, a slightly self-righteous Gryffindor rebuked James from the other side of the table.

"Yeah, Jamsie, be quiet!" Sirius told James off sarcastically, imitating Minerva's slightly shrill voice.

A short, chubby boy with sandy coloured hair called Peter tittered with slightly effeminate laughter at this.

"Shut up, Wormtail. You sound like a woman again." James hissed to Peter, impatiently, and Peter obeyed his immediately.

"And now, on that note, you may all eat, drink and be merry!" Dumbledore announced from the front, and everyone erupted into applause, except for a couple of sullen looking Slytherins, who sat stonily in their seats.

James and Sirius immediately started banging their plates like drums with their spoons boisterously, and were immediately copied by Peter who always copied what they did. As soon as the enormous plates and urns and tureens filled with food, the boys had no inhibitions. In they dived.

"Who is it then, Lily? Who's the lucky guy?" Audrey asked Lily almost immediately after Dumbledore had finished his speech. Both she and Lydia leaned in close, ready to hear the gossip.

"Remus." Lily replied nonchalantly, not looking either of her friends in the eye. She knew they would make a big thing out of it.

Audrey surveyed Remus casually, looking him up and down. "He's not bad looking, in a bookish kind of way, I guess."

"It doesn't matter to _me _what he looks like." Lily protested irritated.

"We'll see." Lydia muttered audibly, causing Audrey to burst into yet another fit of giggles.

Ignoring them both, Lily carried on piling her plate with roast potatoes and gravy. As she reached for the ladle to the gravy, she sneaked a glance at the Marauders at the other end of the table – Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter. James and Sirius were flicking peas at each other and laughing moronically, and Peter was watching over –excitedly, looking as if he were almost about to topple off his chair. Remus was simply laughing at his friends, and every now and again would flick a pea at one of them himself.

"Lily, you're sleeve is in the gravy." Lydia pointed out, one of her eyebrows raised in amusement, as Lily seemed to have gone into some sort of daydream.

Lily lifted her sleeve out of the gravy and wiped it off smiling to herself. Audrey was right, she thought, Remus wasn't bad looking.

"Aaaah, that's the way to do it." Sirius said contentedly as he lay back on his four poster bed, patting his stomach.

"I feel like I'll never be hungry again!" Peter piped up, undoing the top button of his painfully tight looking jeans as he sat on his own bed.

"Oh, you'll be hungry again in a couple of hours, Wormtail." Sirius joked lazily making Peter blush slightly.

"Lily. Why? Why? Unbelievable. Gets to spend a year – a whole year – unbelievable." James burbled to himself as he flopped back on his own bed despairingly.

"Look, Prongs, Moony is a good guy; he won't make a move on your bird." Sirius said offhandedly as he played with a small gold snitch.

"She likes him more than me. I know it. Unbelievable." James whined as he walked over to the window and stared defiantly out onto the darkening grounds. In the distance he could vaguely see a small tentacle rise out of the steely looking waters and grab a leaf that was floating on the surface.

"Of course she does, mate." Sirius replied calmly, still passing the little snitch between his hands.

"What?" James roared, walking over to Sirius's bed, and glaring down at him "What did you say?"

"Come on, Prongs, Moony's more…genteel than you and I. More appealing to birds like Lily." Sirius replied coolly, not deterred by James's angry form glaring at him.

"I can be bloody genteel." James muttered mutinously, not quite believing what he was saying himself. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and got up off his bed, patting James on the back as he passed, and began rifling through his suitcase.

"Sure you can."

Just then, in walked the fourth room mate, looking happier than usual with a bit more colour in his cheeks.

"Where have you been?" James snapped as Remus walked in.

"Had to talk to Lily about patrol this week, why?" Remus replied coolly, cocking an eyebrow at his indignant looking friend.

"Oh yeah? That's it is it?" James interrogated, rounding on his friend angrily.

"Yeah, look Prongs; I think you need to calm down. I'm not going to…do anything with Lily, ok?" Said Remus steadily, walking away from James to his own bed.

James opened his mouth again as if so say something scathing back, but Sirius shook his head at James and mouthed 'let it go' to his seething friend.

"Hey guys, does anyone want to play a game of Gobstones? I've got a new set!" Peter exclaimed shrilly as he took a silver set out of his cloak pocket.

"We're not kids anymore, Wormtail, I have something much more exciting planned for us tonight." Sirius replied mysteriously, pulling a cloak out of his suitcase and pulling it over his shoulders. "Get the cloak, Prongs."

"So, Head Girl, what do you reckon?" Audrey asked as soon as the girls had found their dorm for the seventh and last time.

"What do I reckon about what?" Lily asked innocently, as she began to unpack a large stack of school books from her bulging trunk.

"Oh come _on _Lily! We saw the way you were gawking at a certain Remus Lupin at the feast earlier. I felt sorry for your sleeve." Lydia joked sardonically, as she walked into their room and closed the doors behind her.

"Nonsense, I don't know what you're insinuating here…-"

"Oi, Jemima! What d'ya reckon of Remus Lupin?" Audrey yelled across the room to Jemima Prewitt, a short, auburn-haired girl who shared their room.

"Not bad, if you like studious types. He's got nothing on Sirius though, I mean, the way his hair falls-" Jemima was interrupted abruptly by an increasingly impatient Lily.

"Sirius? You must be joking!" Lily scoffed cantankerously, when she saw the glazed, dreamy expression on Jemima's face.

"Ok…what about James Potter then?" Lydia asked sneakily, her blue eyes glinting with mischief.

"You know how I feel about _Potter_." She muttered in reply, slamming some photographs of her family on her bedside table a little more violently than she would otherwise.

"For Merlin's bloody sake, Lily!" Audrey cried in exasperation "So, he may have asked you out a couple of times – however unromantically. Why do you hold it against the poor guy?"

"Because, James Potter is an insensitive, rude, underachieving, conceited, lowlife! He _bullies_ students for _fun_!" Lily exploded heatedly, her face slowly filling with colour, camouflaging with her boldly coloured hair.

"Don't hold back your feelings or anything Lils, let it all out." Lydia commented ironically from her bed where she lay lazily, seemingly very amused and unsurprised by Lily's outburst.

"All boys are like that, though! Give James a break!" Audrey yelled back to a very angry Lily.

"_Remus _isn't like that!"

"So you DO like him!"

"I don't, I was just making a point!"

"Liar!"

"I AM NOT-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" Someone roared from the bed at the far end of the dorm.

"Hey, Amelia!" Lydia yelled back good-naturedly.

Lily and Audrey looked at each other guiltily, and both muttered an apology, both still thinking they were right.

"Padfoot, pass here!" James hollered from one side of the large, empty Quidditch pitch, where he, Remus, Sirius and Peter were all playing a night Quidditch game.

Sirius threw the big red quaffle to James with as much strength as he could muster, thus it went a little further than expected and plummeted to the ground.

"And I thought you were meant to be some sort of hot-shot Chaser…" Sirius jeered as James missed the ball miserably.

"I'm better than you!" James shouted back, his neck beginning to turn scarlet. James always got very angry when his Quidditch skills were questioned.

"Well, I'm a bloody beater, aren't I?" Sirius yelled back, doing a random loop to show off for no apparent reason, and was promptly given a round of applause by Peter, who, as soon as he took both his hands off his broom, almost fell off.

"Look, will you two shut up and get the ball?" Remus growled back, eager to carry on the game.

James was about to retort when he realised where the ball had gone, and decided he would go and get it after all. He went into a dive and swept the large ball up in his arms smoothly, but instead of immediately going back to his friends, he simply flew up the side of the castle, to a window near the top with it's lights on.

_Lily's dorm._

James mentally patted himself on the back for his excellence as he hovered outside the window, just out of view. He could see five girls in the room, all of whom he recognised – Lydia Woodhouse, Audrey Merryweather, Jemima Prewitt, Amelia Bones and, of course, Lily Evans. He could only see the back of her head, but he knew it was her – her bright red thick locks were an instantaneous giveaway. He felt his heartbeat quicken as he heard her voice.

_"Because, James Potter is an insensitive, rude, underachieving, conceited, lowlife! He bullies students for fun!"_

Although James sort of knew what Lily thought of him, it didn't make him any less angry hearing it for the three millionth time. Conceited? Insensitive? Underachieving? Was this really what Lily thought of him?

And then he heard something that made him almost roar with fury.

_"Remus isn't like that!"_

James opened his mouth in outrage, even hearing Audrey stick up for him didn't help at all. He felt as if Lily had driven a screwdriver right into his chest and twisted it around.

Seething with fury, James steered his new Comet 260 away from the window, and threw the quaffle violently at Remus's head. It didn't make him feel any better.


	3. Moodswings

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a long time – I haven't had a lot of time on my hands or feet or knees or on any part of my body.

Mood Swings

The next morning James lay face down in his pillow. He felt like two bludgers were doing an ungainly tango in his skull, bumping against his forehead repeatedly. He turned onto his back and tugged a hand through his thick black hair and groaned out loud as he thought of the night before. Lily's determined little voice kept spinning around in his mind, saying again and again:

"_Remus isn't like that!"_

James groaned again, glaring at the ceiling through blurred vision as his mind swam with cloudy thoughts.

The bedroom was still dark, clearly no one had stirred yet as he could still hear Peter's nasal snores pound the other side of the room relentlessly. Peter was curled up in a little ball in his bed, as usual, his body twitching every so often, like a nervous little dog. He looked over at the bed next to him; Sirius was lying spread-eagled on his bed, his feet dangling over the side of the bed, mouth wide open, but hair still bizarrely perfectly sculpted. Then, in the bed opposite his, Remus lay on his side, one arm around his pillow, a little smile on his face. A little smile which wasn't a very Remus-like smile.

Suddenly James was wide awake. As he glared over at Remus, he suddenly felt that he couldn't stand to be in the same room as him. He slid out of bed and changed into his day-wear robes, which were brand new, and still smelt of Madame Malkin's powdery scent. James slid down the banister into the common room, which was empty, as it was 6am on a Monday morning, and people usually didn't come down until 7 at the earliest, least of all James, who often didn't rise before 8. The common room would be empty for ages. Or so he thought.

The first day of school was always a big thing for Lily, and now that she was Head Girl, it was even more so. She sprang out of bed at the crack of dawn, a big smile on her face, and she bounced up to the paisley curtains that hung over the windows and ripped them open, letting in the yellow morning glow.

"Lily, its bloody 6 am, go back to bed like a normal person!" Lydia growled from her bed, her voice croaky and disgruntled. She was not a morning person.

Lily laughed, and began to make her bed, humming 'green sleeves' to herself at a very high pitch. She picked up her robes, and pulled them on, smiling at the little Head Girl badge that glinted on her chest. Today was going to be good day. She looked around at her other room mates, who were all asleep, except for Lydia, who had covered her head with a pillow, and from the sound of things, was having trouble breathing. Lily decided not to try and get her up; she knew that Lydia might jinx her with that bloody awful spell that makes small spuds grow out of your nose, so she left the dormitory alone.

James was lounging on a red plush sofa by the fire that morning when he saw Lily sauntering happily down the stairs. He rarely saw her with a smile on her face, and he thought it suited her more than the self righteous frown she often wore when she saw him.

Lily hadn't noticed James watching her closely as she euphorically went down into the Gryffindor common room. Had she noticed he was there, she wouldn't have done a little twirl on the bottom step, thus losing her balance and stacking it spectacularly on the floor.

James roared with laughter, he didn't mean it unkindly though, he had just never seen Lily looking so…ungainly. Lily turned round so fast when she heard this, her face turning bright red with embarrassment when she saw who was laughing at her.

"Happy, by any chance, Evans?" James asked cheekily, grinning at down at her, and offering his hand to help her up, which she promptly slapped away and got to her feet, her face still bright red.

"I was happy, until I saw you. Is it in any way possible for you to leave me alone today?" Lily retorted angrily. She hated that stupid arrogant Potter with his stupid big grin and his stupid messy hair and his stupid stupid big head.

James laughed even more at this, "You might want me around one day, Evans, and then you'll regret saying that to me." James teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Impossible. And anyway, you're so conceited that I doubt you'd even be able to acknowledge another human being is even present!" Lily replied coolly, her face going back to its usual porcelain colour.

Then suddenly James could hear her voice again, echoing in his head

_James Potter is an insensitive, rude, underachieving, conceited, lowlife!_

He narrowed his eyebrows, his grin leaving his face in a flash. "Maybe if I was a bit more like _Remus…_" He said irritably.

Lily was quite taken aback at this reply, and surprised that she had seemed to have gotten to him a bit. She couldn't possibly have imagined that he had heard her talking to the girls last night, and would have been ashamed had she known, she never intended for people to find out what she really thought of them.

"What does Remus have to do with anything?" Lily asked, her heart beating a little fasted as she thought about Remus.

"Nothing. Forget it, Evans." James snapped, not wanting to reveal that he had been eavesdropping, or that he cared that Lily might have a thing for his friend, and he walked back to the sofa and flopped down onto it angrily.

Lily shrugged, hoping against hope that James didn't suspect that she might feel something for Remus. "Whatever, Potter." She said, trying to sound casual and flippant.

James glared at her back as she slipped out of the common room leaving him alone. He sprang to his feet and grumbled to himself about Remus under his breath, what did he have that James didn't, anyway?

Breakfast that morning was very tense. James sat stonily at the Gryffindor table, prodding a single sausage around his plate, completely devoid of appetite. He was sitting between Peter and Sirius, and both were bolting down their third helpings of eggs, bacon and black pudding, neither noticing James's rare lack of response to food. Remus, however, did. He also noticed how every five minutes James shot a glare his way, and then looked at Lily even more mutinously, before looking back at his sausage and prodding it even harder with his fork.

Audrey noticed James's stony expression from the other end of the Gryffindor table. She rolled her eyes when she saw James shooting longing glances at Lily, as if trying desperately to get her attention, but he wasn't succeeding. Lily's mood seemed to have deteriorated greatly since the morning, and she didn't seem to be talking to her at all, so she tried to test the water.

"Hey, Lils, would you pass the toast?" Audrey called to Lily, trying to sound cheery and natural.

Lily didn't make any reply, and simply pushed the toast platter over to Lydia and murmured "Pass it along," not looking at Audrey once.

Audrey looked at the toast platter and suddenly had no appetite. "You know what, I think I'm done. See you girls in Transfiguration." And with that she collected up her bag and headed for the exit of the Great Hall.

At the same time, James had decided that he had had enough. He was sick of Lily ignoring him for one morning, and so he left the table, closely followed by Audrey.

"Hey James! Are you going to Transfiguration?" Audrey called to him as they went through the doors from the Hall, running to catch up with him.

"Um, yeah." James replied, surveying Audrey and his face breaking into a smile when he remembered her defending him the night before. "Want to walk there with me?"

"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks." Audrey said brightly.

Lily and Lydia arrived at their transfiguration classroom together. Lily checked her watch as they approached the door.

"8:30! Right on time. Always a great was to start a new term, don't you think?" She commented happily.

"You cheered up quickly, fifteen minutes ago you were a grumpy badger." Lydia replied, jokily nudging Lily as they walked into their classroom.

As she surveyed the room, Lily's smile rapidly melted from her face. Audrey and James were beside one another in the centre of the room, chatting and laughing together, and for the first time, he didn't acknowledge Lily walking into the room. Quickly, she snapped her eyes away from them. She was being ridiculous, she didn't even _like _James, and it's not like she wanted to be the one laughing with him…she just didn't like seeing Audrey laughing with him.

She took her seat right at the front of the classroom as usual and took out all her books, her parchment and new purple feathered quill and placed them all neatly on the table. Usually doing this would make Lily feel happy and relaxed, but she could still hear Audrey's raucous laughter in the background and it made her uncomfortable.

"Are you OK, Lils? You're gripping the table awfully tightly." Lydia asked as she placed her stuff on the table next to her.

"Yeah. Fine." Lily answered stiffly as she heard Audrey snort with laughter again at some joke James was telling her. She took a deep breath and turned to Lydia with an unnaturally large smile on her face. "Everything's absolutely fine."


	4. Late At Night

Moving swiftly on from shamefully short chapter three to four! Keep reading, and I'll keep writing! Enjoy.

4. Late At Night

That night was another sleepless one for James. He knew, as soon as he set his head down on the pillow, that he would be tossing and turning for hours, wondering why Lily was so resistant to his charms, and was annoyed when he heard his other roommate's peaceful sleepy breathing. In frustration, he threw his covers aside got out of bed and headed for the door. Then suddenly another voice invaded the thick night silence.

"So, Audrey Merryweather, huh?" Sirius commented casually before James could reach the door.

James spun around and squinted into the darkness. "What? What? What gave you that idea?" He asked incredulously, but tried to keep his voice down at the same time, as he was not eager to awake Peter…or Remus.

"Aw, come on James. You were slobbering all over each other in transfiguration. Why deny it? She's…nice." Sirius said with a wink.

"Nah, she's not my type." James replied, sitting back down on his bed.

"She's not your type? Are you blind?" Sirius replied in disbelief, not bothering to keep his tone lowered.

"She's just…she's not..."

"Lily Evans? You've got to give up on that bird, mate. She's a no hoper. And, if you ask me, sort of stuck up. I'd take or leave her type if I were you, Prongsie, no fun." Sirius advised sagely before yawning widely.

"You don't know her, man. She's special." Said James dreamily as he thought of her long red hair.

"You don't know her so great either. Think about it – what do you actually know about her except that she has a really bad temper? Stew that over amigo, all this talk is making me sleepy. Night." Sirius retorted before falling back into bed and pulling the covers over his head.

"That's ridiculous. I've known Evans for seven years. I'd have to be a _moron _to have known and liked her for that long and not bothered to get to know her. Right?" James replied with a chuckle, getting back into bed and lying down.

"Right." Came a muffled reply.

Meanwhile, up in the girl's dorms, all the girls, but one, were sleeping peacefully. Lydia, who could sleep because a crow had perched on the tree outside her window and was cawing incessantly, gave up on sleep, crept over to Audrey's bed and shook her slightly.

"Audrey. Audrey, wake up." She hissed quietly, but Audrey just grunted and turned her back to Lydia, burying her head in her pillow. Lydia sighed and dug her foot forcefully into Audrey's leg.

Audrey sprang up suddenly in shock, clutching her leg where Lydia had kicked it. "Ouch! What's your problem Lyd? Go away!" She growled furiously, rubbing the sore spot on her leg.

"Not my problem. Lily's. And we need to talk." Said Lydia, pulling the hangings around the bed to make sure they weren't to be overheard.

"Don't talk to me about _her _problems. The girl has _issues _at the moment. She'll get over it." Audrey replied dismissively, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Why do you think she's so mad at you?" Lydia asked, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't know. She's always getting mad at me for no real reason, but she always gets over it. Don't _worry _Lyd."

"Well, I'm convinced it's James. You should have _seen _her face when she saw you and James sitting together. You could have broken glass with the look on her face." Said Lydia emphatically.

"James? You've _got _to be joking. She blatantly has a thing for Remus. And besides, she was mad at me way before I sat with James. You're reading way too far into things." Audrey replied calmly, a secretive little smile on her face.

"Oh, am I? We'll see. What about you and James, anyway? You guys seemed…friendly." Lydia probed, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"Oh I don't know. He is kind of cute though. Who knows, right?" Audrey replied, trying to sound casual, but kept breaking into smiles. "Whatever happens, happens."

Even later that night, Lily awoke from a nightmare that she couldn't quite remember. She was, however, sure that it had involved her transfiguration classroom and Audrey's high pitched laughter ringing though it. Feeling flushed, uncomfortable, and very awake, she got out of bed and headed for the door, deciding that a little night walk might clear her head. Looking back she saw Audrey sleeping peacefully, her drapes wide open, her arms wrapped around herself, a smile on her face. Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously and turned away from her and slipped out of the dormitory and down into the common room.

There was no light in the common room that late at night, the fire had burned down to a few pathetic glowing embers in the bottom of the grate, which weren't providing much light. The moonlight glowed on the windows, casting eerie shadows all around the darkened room. Lily could barely find her way to the portrait and had to feel her way in the general direction of the door, when suddenly she bumped into something very solid.

"Oh! Sorry – who's there?" It asked, surprising Lily so much that she let out a slight squeak before she realised who it was.

"Remus? Is that you?" She asked, squinting into the darkness, trying to make out his shape.

"Yeah – is that Lily?" He whispered "I can tell it's you, even in the dark. No one else I know has that shade of red hair."

"Oh. Yeah, it's annoying." Said Lily, dejectedly tugging at her hair.

"No, I like it. It's so unique." Remus replied smiling warmly

Lily blushed slightly, "Thank you."

"So…I'll ask the obvious question – what are you doing up so late?" Remus inquired, raising an eyebrow. "It seems rather out of character."

"I suppose you wouldn't expect little rule-abiding Lily to be out of bed, right?" Said Lily, grinning mischievously up at Remus.

"No, I wouldn't, but if she would still like to, I would be honoured to have little law-abiding Lily's company while I go for a walk." Replied Remus, offering Lily his arm to take.

"Where are we going?" Asked Lily feeling a little nervous all of a sudden, as she took his arm and he led her towards the portrait.

"Come with me and find out."

And suddenly Lily found herself being swept through dark and silent corridors, hand in hand with Remus Lupin, who seemed to know Hogwarts passageways like the back of his hand. She found that she felt infinitely secure with him, even though she barely knew him and had no idea where he was taking her. She didn't care, though, it felt amazing.

Ten minutes later, she and Remus were lying side by side on the floor of the East Tower, staring up at the stars restfully, as though they were old friends.

"Know what that constellation is?" Remus asked, pointing up at a group of stars that seemed to glow brighter than the rest.

"No, what is it?"

"It's called Sagitta," He answered, pointing at the sky "It's shaped like Sagittarius's arrow, see?" And he traced the shape of an arrow with his index finger in the sky, like a cosmic dot-to-dot pattern.

Lily smiled; she loved how intelligent Remus was. "How do you know all this?"

"The night sky fascinates me, it's sort of beautiful in a sinister sort of way, don't you think?" He replied pensively.

"Yeah, there's something about the full moon that's unsettling, know what I mean?"

Remus took in a long breath "More than you know."

Then there was a thick contemplative silence between them after that, as the two just lay and simply stared into the inky sky dotted with pearly lights. Then, a few awkward shuffles later, and Remus had managed to slide his arm around Lily's shoulders.

_It's because she looks cold _he convinced himself as he pulled her close to his chest _I wouldn't come onto Lily. I wouldn't do that to James._ But has he looked down at the contented red-head lying next to him, wrapped in one of his arms, he found it hard to convince himself that his motives were purely chivalrous.

"Lily, I'm feeling sort of tired, want me to walk you back up to the common room?" He said abruptly, his chest tightening with guilt as he though of James's furious face.

"Um, OK," Said Lily, slightly disappointed when Remus removed his warm arm from around her neck. He helped her to her feet and then they slipped back into the common room without seeing hide nor hair or Mrs Norris or her odious master.

"So…I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast then?" Remus asked when they reached the two stairs.

"Yeah…thanks for the walk," Lily replied, smiling up at him, her green eyes flashing with excitement.

Remus smiled back at her and leaned in for a hug, sliding his arms around her waist and squeezing just a little. Lily hugged him back and decided to make a bold very un-Lily-like move and kissed him lightly on his cheek.

"I had a great time tonight, Remus." She whispered in his ear.

At 2 o'clock that morning, Sirius was awoken rather suddenly at the sound of the dormitory door shut with a creak behind him. Curiously, he turned his head slightly to see who had come in, all the while gripping his wand in case it was an unwanted intruder. He could just about make out a tall, thin silhouette sauntering into the room, and grinned to himself when he realised who it was.

"_Lumos._" His wand-tip ignited, casting a beam of light on the figure, whose face contorted into a look of shock. "Good morning Head Boy, still breaking rules I see?" He sneered up at Remus whose shocked features relaxed when he saw Sirius.

"Old habits die hard, Padfoot." Remus replied, grinning mischievously at him, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

Sirius raised an eyebrow "What did you get up to this time? Hit the Kitchen?"

"Nah, just…star-gazing." He replied, winking cheekily after a furtive glance in the direction of James's bed.

Sirius snorted "Star-gazing? Yeah right. Who's the girl?"

"The girl? I don't quite follow you there, Paddie." Remus answered with a fake naïve veneer.

"Let's just say I've never known a guy to go star-gazing alone. Hell, we don't even like doing it; it's a means to an end."

"Maybe you're right."

"Come on Moony, who'll I tell? Wait, wait…oh." Sirius fell silent as realisation dawned on him. "It's not…?" He began, dropping his voice to a low hiss. "Evans?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Are you crazy?"

"Nothing's going on, she just happened to be there and so did I so we decided to hang out together. No big issue. OK?"

"You ARE crazy." Sirius paused for a second for thought. "She's pretty fit though, mind."

Remus laughed huskily, "Goodnight Padfoot." And both closed their hangings around their beds to sleep.

James, however, lay peacefully in bed, sleeping as soundly as a baby, dreaming, as usual, of Quidditch, and Lily, and Quidditch, and…Audrey?


End file.
